Caffeine & Breast Cancer: Does It Increase the Risk?

According to the American Cancer Society, 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop breast cancer. While we don’t know what causes breast cancer, we do know about some of the risk factors, including:

older age

a positive family history of the disease

inheriting certain genes that are linked with breast cancer

obesity

high alcohol consumption

radiation exposure

Should coffee consumption also be listed among these risk factors?

The short answer is no, but let’s delve a little more deeply.

Coffee consumption in the United States

The average coffee drinker consumes three cups of it each day. Thus far, research indicates coffee doesn’t cause breast cancer or increase its risk. In fact, it could actually be tied to a lower risk of breast cancer risk.

The women who drank coffee in the study didn’t just sip a cup over the morning newspaper. They were serious coffee drinkers, consuming more than five cups per day.

In 2013, a large meta-analysis of the existing research looked at 37 studies with more than 59,000 cases of breast cancer. Overall, there was no link between breast cancer risk and coffee drinking. But, drinking coffee was associated with a lower risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

Another study published in January 2015 confirmed the connection between coffee and lowered breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. More highly caffeinated coffee was found to reduce breast cancer risk. And higher consumption was related to a higher reduction in risk.

The takeaway

The final verdict? Most research on the topic shows that coffee does not raise your risk of breast cancer.

And for women who are post-menopausal, research has been even more promising, showing a link between coffee drinking and breast cancer risk reduction.